Social mobility, pay gaps, restructures: 5 interesting stats from Salary Survey 2022

Marketing’s social mobility questioned as socio-economic pay gap revealed

The marketing profession’s status as a meritocracy has been thrown in doubt by the Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey, which reveals a socio-economic pay gap for full-time workers of 19.1%.

Looking across all marketing roles, the average salary for marketers identifying as coming from a working-class background is £47,700, with those from a skilled working-class background earning £46,800 and those from a lower middle-class background being paid £47,100 annually.

The average wage for marketers from a middle-class background is £55,100, with those from an upper middle-class background earning £66,400. For marketers identifying as coming from an upper-class background, the average annual wage is £76,600.

According to the analysis, 12.5% of the 4,463 respondents come from a working-class background, while 10.1% identify as coming from a skilled working-class background.

A further 14.9% of marketers come from a lower middle-class background, while the largest proportion (42.1%) identify as middle class. A further 14% come from an upper middle-class background, while 1.4% identify as being upper class.

The analysis finds a relationship between the socio-economic background of marketers and the level of seniority they reach.

Looking specifically at marketing directors/vice-presidents, 16.6% of marketers from upper middle-class or upper-class backgrounds are in marketing director/vice-president roles, versus 9.6% of their peers from middle-class and 6.7% from working-class backgrounds.

Source: 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey

Almost two thirds of large businesses have restructured their marketing team

The restructuring of marketing teams ramped up over the past 12 months, as businesses decided how teams should operate in order to thrive in 2022.

Some 63.7% of large companies (with 250 employees and over) have restructured their marketing teams over the past 12 months, up from 56.2% last year. The rate of team restructures is slightly lower in SMEs at 48.3%, up from 34.7% last year. Regardless of business size, the rate of change is accelerating.

Overall, more than half (56.5%) of the 4,463 marketers responding to the Career and Salary Survey have experienced structural change in their team over the past year. This figure is up on the 46.3% of respondents to last year’s survey who reported team restructures.

Source: 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey

More than a fifth of brands don’t see the value in marketing apprenticeships

Despite work being done to demonstrate the value of alternative routes into the industry, more than a fifth of marketers (21.2%) work for a company that doesn’t currently see the value in a marketing apprenticeship.

Some 57.9% of marketers work for a brand with no marketing apprenticeship at all. Just 15.8% of marketers in SMEs (businesses with 250 employees and under) say their firm has such as scheme, versus a third (33.3%) of their peers in large businesses.

When asked why their business does not have a marketing apprenticeship, 10.4% say it is too complicated to develop a programme, while 6.6% cannot get buy-in at the highest level for such an initiative. Just 3.1% say their business is worried about onboarding apprentices remotely.

Despite the low prevalence of such programmes, 43.7% of marketers believe apprenticeships are a good route into marketing.

Source: 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey

Earnings of ethnically diverse marketers hit by pay gap

Marketers from ethnically diverse backgrounds earn less than their white peers at every level of seniority, according to the 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey.

The analysis shows marketers from ethnic minorities working on a full-time basis are paid, on average, 23.7% less than their white counterparts.

The responses of 4,463 marketers reveal the mean salary for a white marketer is £56,600. Marketers from mixed race/multiple ethnic groups earn £44,900 on average, followed by black marketers at £44,600. Marketers in the ‘other ethnicity’ group earn a mean wage of £43,800, while Asian/Asian British marketers earn a mean salary of £39,900.

Our analysis of pay by seniority finds ‘non-white’ marketers earn less than their white peers at every career stage studied. In this case, pay by seniority data is calculated from full-time (35+ hours a week) respondents providing their basic annual salary, excluding any additional benefits.

Source: 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey

Gaming and gambling crowned marketing’s best paid sectors

Gaming and gambling have been revealed as the best paid industries for marketers, according to Marketing Week’s 2022 Career and Salary Survey.

The analysis of pay across 24 different sectors finds gaming and gambling are the best paid for marketing on average, with a mean salary of £66,749. This is followed by travel and transportation (£64,759) and consumer electronics (£64,478).

Meanwhile, marketers working in the charity/not-for-profit sector are paid the lowest of the 24 sectors analysed, at £45,804 on average. This is followed by FMCG (£49,213) and retail, wholesale and ecommerce (£50,921).

According to the analysis, the best paid industry for female marketers on average is the financial sector (£59,062), while the worst paid is the charity/not-for-profit sector (£40,406). On average, male marketers are best paid in the automotive sector (£77,592) and take home the smallest wage in FMCG (£46,775).

Source: 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey

Click here to read all the analysis from the 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey